Tuesday, February 28, 2017

The Empire Strikes Back at Trump’s White House

When
Donald John Trump took over as president of the United States a month
ago, there were – not many though – reasonable, cold analysts who, based
on his pre-election statements, predicted that a man who is going to
wage war against the establishment (the empire) is entering a conflict
with a very uncertain result. Some of them even did not hesitate to say
that Trump is bound to lose this battle. Judging by what is happening
now, those who spoke about a war with uncertain results were completely
right, and those who predicted Trump’s defeat might be right. We will see in the not-so-distant future.
Trump’s
throne – if one can say so – was seriously shaken the moment one of his
closest associates, national security advisor general Michael Flynn,
was forced to resign. And, let us not be misguided, not because he was
“insincere” with Vice President Pence, but because he dared to contact
(how horrific!) the ambassador of Russia before the elections and –
allegedly – spoke with him about the possibility of abandoning sanctions
against his country. And when, immediately after that, a White House
spokesman said that Russia is expected to return the Crimea peninsula to
Ukraine, there was no doubt whatsoever whether Trump would be able to
fulfill what he promised in the election campaign. With those promises,
the key ones, he managed – despite his lack of political experience,
despite his sexism, and despite his entertainment past – to arouse the
hopes of all those in the world who were fed up with the American policy
of interventionism and with its imposing of what has been “sold” for
decades as democracy, with massive help from an enormous army and more
than 700 military bases around the world. Just to remind you: Trump
explicitly promised that America will stop imposing regimes, or as he
put it in his inaugural address: ‘the American way of life.’ And, very
important, he expressed his willingness to normalize relations with
Russia, which were deteriorating rapidly and dangerously. General Flynn
backed such a policy. And that is the reason why he had to go. His
resignation is the first serious blow delivered by the system
(establishment) against the new man in the White House. After getting
rid of Flynn, influential circles not only in the Democratic party
(including the Clinton clan), but in the Republican party too (which
never really got to terms first with his nomination as presidential
candidate and after that with him as the president), as well as those
who are often described as the ‘invisible centers of influence,’
directing the politicians as actors on the stage – they all smelled
blood. And this is not a conspiracy theory, this is something quite
obvious to everybody who is willing to see, to hear, and to draw the
only possible conclusions from what he (or she) saw or heard, without
becoming the victim or the hostage of anybody’s propaganda, regardless
of whose. Do not be mistaken: those who smelled blood will not stop.
And
who is, after all, this general Michael Flynn? He is former chief of
the US military intelligence, the most decorated high-ranking American
officer in this position over the last two decades. From this position
he was relieved when he dared to put into question the way the US
intelligence community worked and its results (the very same
intelligence community which spies for years now on whomever it wants,
around the globe, including heads of states, American allies; this is,
by the way a proven fact!). Did he speak with the Russian ambassador
prior to the elections? Yes, he did. Did he, by doing so, violate an old
act (the Logan Act) which forbids, to put it in the simplest terms,
private persons to engage in diplomatic activities? Again: yes, he did.
But, did anybody invoke this same act when some 8 or 9 years ago a
certain Barack Obama, at that time just a presidential candidate (a
private person too) travelled around the world meeting heads of states
and governments? The answer is: no! Had Flynn have spoken with
ambassadors of, let us say, Germany or France, nobody would have said a
word. But he sinned, because he spoke with the Russian ambassador and
Russia is, as everybody “knows,” an enemy of the West, an enemy of
democracy, a power which is on the verge of sending its armed forces to
conquer Europe (if one would believe the mainstream media, or for that
matter, the Secretary-general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg).
On
the tracks of the anti-Russian hysteria, which becomes more and more
present, Flynn was accused, without any evidence, that for him “Putin
comes first and only then the US.” Demands are being made, imperatively,
to investigate all links between the general and Russia. And all this
only to be able to repeat the “old song” from the US election
campaign: Russia’s role in the US presidential elections should be
investigated (although this role was never proved by solid evidence, or
what the Americans call a “smoking gun” – it was only talked about). And
all of this to repeat that Trump is a puppet in Russian hands, backed
now with the “expertise” of more than 30 “shrinks” who have concluded,
on the basis of Trump’s behavior and his statements, that he is not fit
to be the president of the U.S.
And again: the story will not stop
here. The empire (establishment) strikes back and hits a man who
thought, because he practically alone, against all odds, won the
presidential elections, that he can change the system. It is more than
likely that he cannot. The war hero, CIC of the Normandy invasion and
later US president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was clever (or wise) enough to
mention the military-industrial complex and its dangerous role only at
the end of his term in office. Trump, who cannot be compared with
legendary Ike in any way, did practically the same thing in the first
days of his mandate, challenging this system. And sealed, thus, his
destiny – as it seems now. He will be, with the “logistic help” of the
Europeans who are already describing him as somebody able to launch in
the next two years “a cultural revolution” (allusion to communist China)
either be chased out of the White House (under any pretext), or he will
be forced to become a tool in the hands of others. After all, one
should remember Obama and his big promises with which he won the Peace
Nobel price (hand stretched to the Muslim countries, a world without
nuclear weapons etc.) He did nothing of that sort, but continued the
policy of his predecessors, becoming “famous” because of his bombings of
a number of countries and destabilizing the Middle East, not to mention
the direct and indirect support to those who are today known as
Islamist terrorists. In short: he allowed himself to be “eaten” by the
system. And this is the least that could happen to Trump.
Why did
this “deconstruction” of Trump begin with General Flynn? The answer is
simple: because the general backed the normalization of the relations
with Russia, even more he backed the cooperation with Russia in the
fight against global terrorism,
which means stopping any support and help for the Islamists, who are
still called by many in the West “opposition,” “armed opposition,” or
“fighters against tyranny and for freedom.” The military-industrial
complex lives from wars and it imposed on the West the confrontation
with Russia, the policy of enlarging and strengthening of the NATO
(which, being a genuine relict of the Cold War, was called “obsolete”
by Trump), the policy which resulted in bringing to Europe hundreds of
American tanks and thousands of troops.
To put it quite simply:
without the confrontation with Russia, without the continuation of the
policy of imposing regimes and taking control over energy sources and
main energy routes, there is no money, there is no profit. This is the
reason why those who evaluated the fall of socialism in Europe as their
final victory, only to see how Putin is putting into question this
victory (namely standing up against a unipolar world), after absorbing
the shock of Trump’s victory and his announced foreign policy, decided
to take things into their hands again. Thus we may expect strengthening
of anti-Russian sentiments (allegations of Russian meddling in
elections, though never proven, are being repeated again and again, now
prior to the presidential elections in France). We may expect a changed
rhetoric both from President Trump and from the White House. And we
should stop hoping for the end of the renewed Cold War. This war means
profit, and those who are making this profit are not prepared to let
anybody else take it from them, or to stop them making it at all;
despite the fact that it is a bloody profit, “earned” at the cost of
hundreds of thousands of human lives. General Flynn had this experience.
President Trump, from what can be concluded right now, still has to
learn the lesson.
And the “rest of the world”? Well, those who survive will tell the story.

Tomislav
Jakić is a journalist who served as foreign policy advisor to the
second President of the Republic of Croatia, Mr. Stjepan Mesic.

The
opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the authors are theirs
alone and don’t reflect any official position of
Geopoliticalmonitor.com.

If there were any doubts that the Oscars were merely a political tool wielded by the globalist elite, doubt no more.
It should come as no surprise that a film celebrating the White
Helmets scooped up an Oscar for best short documentary. Might as well
hand the Oscar to ISIS leader Abū Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Far from a humanitarian organisation, the White Helmets are an Al
Qaeda staffed propaganda group that is embedded with brutal jihadists
looking to overthrow the sovereign government of Syria.
Watch this CrossTalk episode to learn who the White Helmets represent…

Read these posts from The Duran to see who the Academy Awards honored with an Oscar last night…

Accepting the Academy Award, director Orlando von
Einsiedel urged the audience to stand up and call for an end to Syria’s
six-year civil war, which led to a standing ovation.
Von Einsiedel read out a statement from White Helmets founder Raed
al-Saleh, in which he thanked the academy and said the group had saved
tens of thousands of lives since it was formed in 2014.“We are so grateful that this film has highlighted our work to
the world. Our organisation is guided by a verse from the Quran: to save
one life is to save all of humanity,” Saleh’s statement said.“We have saved more than 82,000 Syrian lives. I invite anyone
here who hears me to work on the side of life to stop the bloodshed in
Syria and around the world.”
Rescue workers in Syria are at risk of being killed in so-called
“double tap” air raids that target them as they arrive at the scene of
an air strike. The group says that many of its volunteers have been
killed.
Syrian cinematographer Khaled Khatib who worked on the documentary
was unable to attend after being barred from entering the United States,
despite being granted a visa.
US officials reportedly discovered “derogatory information” about
him, according to a document seen by the Associated Press news agency.
The film’s producer Joanna Natasegara told AP on Sunday that the decision was “sad and confusing.”

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole
responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on
Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect
statement in this article.

Trump is right challenging fake news. It’s about time someone in high office did it. He’s going about it the wrong way.
Without speech, media and academic freedoms, all other rights are threatened.
Barring certain media outlets from attending Friday’sWhite House
press briefing while letting others in was wrongheaded and
counterproductive.The NYT falsely called the move unprecedented, “something no administration of either party has ever done.”
Not quite. In 2009, the Obama White House said it would no longer
conduct interviews with Fox News as a member of the press pool, an
unprecedented act at the time.
Other media outlets objected. The White House relented. It remained hostile to Fox News criticism of its policies.
On February 24, NYT editors blasted Trump’s move, absurdly calling it
“a backhanded compliment to the reporters whose honest work provoked
the president’s latest foot-stamping tantrum” – a gratuitous insult,
falsely referring to barred news organizations as “trustworthy.”
Far from it! The Times and other media scoundrels feature fake news, suppressing what’s most important to report.
They’re largely anti-Trump, inventing reasons to bash him.
Justifiable criticism is warranted. Biased reporting defiles what
journalism is supposed to be.
On Friday, Trump called media “the opposition party…mak(ing) up stories and mak(ing) up sources.”
Candidate Trump said he wasn’t “running against crooked Hillary. I’m
running against the crooked media,” he stressed – referring to the media
as the “lowest form of humanity.”
Throughout the campaign, they went all out to get him, continuing
post-inauguration. The power of scoundrel media manipulated public
sentiment works.
Fiction substitutes for important facts. News is sanitized, dissent
marginalized. Supporting wealth, power and privilege substitutes for
full and accurate reporting.
Wars of aggression are called liberating ones. They’re glorified in
the name of peace. Civil liberties are suppressed for our own good.
Patriotism means supporting what harms the public welfare.
Might is justified as right. Raping nations is called democracy
building. Looting them is considered economic development. Free
societies are threatened. Tyranny stalks America.
Truth-telling is a vital disinfectant. The way to challenge media
scoundrels isn’t by barring them from press briefings. It’s by exposing
their fake news with hard, irrefutable facts.
Trump has bully pulpit power. He has over 25 million Twitter
followers plus other ways to counter media lies if done responsibly.
On Friday, he tweeted “FAKE NEWS media knowingly doesn’t tell the
truth. A great danger to our country. The failing @nytimes has become a
joke. Likewise @CNN. Sad!”
Most Americans distrust the media for good reason. Growing numbers
rely on alternative sources to stay informed. It’s the only way!Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.htmlVisit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on
the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole
responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on
Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect
statement in this article.

RSIS
Commentary is a platform to provide timely and, where appropriate,
policy-relevant commentary and analysis of topical issues and
contemporary developments. The views of the authors are their own and do
not represent the official position of the S. Rajaratnam School of
International Studies, NTU. These commentaries may be reproduced
electronically or in print with prior permission from RSIS and due
recognition to the author(s) and RSIS. Please email: RSISPublications@ntu.edu.sgfor feedback to the Editor RSIS Commentary, Yang Razali Kassim.

No. 037/2017 dated 27 February 2017China as the Next Champion of Globalisation?

By Friedrich Wu

Synopsis

As
the US under Donald Trump and European powers like Britain and France
turn their backs on globalisation, could or would China step in to be
the next champion of globalisation? As Beijing attempts to demonstrate
leadership and garner global trust through initiatives like AIIB and
OBOR, a litmus test awaits President Xi Jinping and his
"pro-globalisation" team.Commentary

SINCE
1979 when China’s paramount leader Deng Xiaoping made the
world-transforming decision to abandon once and for all the Maoist
semi-autarkic model of self-reliant development and pursue an “Open
Door” policy, Beijing’s geo-economic goal has remained remarkably
consistent. This, namely, is to modernise China’s backward economy and
catch up with the developed world by integrating the country with the
capitalist global economic order, which was created at Bretton Woods
immediately after the last world war.

By joining all the major
multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Bank for International
Settlements (BIS), World Trade Organisation (WTO), etc, Beijing has
demonstrated that it is a conscientious and scrupulous rule-abider of
the international economic and financial architectures forged by the
West, which until recently has consistently championed the economic
benefits of globalisation.China in the Capitalist World Economic Order

China’s
conduct in these international organisations has been exemplary. It has
acted invariably like a “responsible stake-holder” rather than a
disruptor; it has not sought to break, or revise, any codified rule,
except to demand (rather unsuccessfully) for more voting rights
commensurate with its recent status of being the world’s second largest
economy. Conversely, none of these institutions have accused China as a
spoiler.

For examples, both the IMF and BIS argue that
the renminbi is not undervalued; while the ADB and World Bank praise
China’s financial contributions. In its bi-annual Trade Policy Review of
China, WTO repeatedly commends China’s reform and market-opening
measures.

As China recognises that it has been a significant
beneficiary of the well-entrenched capitalist world economic order,
unwavering support for globalisation will continue to serve the
country’s enlightened self-interests well. This is because, even though
the Chinese economy is currently embarking on a paradigm shift from a
hitherto exports-and-investment-driven growth model to one that relies
more on domestic consumption and services, still, several empirical
studies have found that sharply higher import tariffs and investment
barriers erected by major developed countries would shave 2-3 percentage
points off from China’s already slower economic growth pace.

The
question now is: As the new Donald Trump administration and other major
European powers like Britain and France are turning their backs on
globalisation, could or would China step forward to fill the leadership
void? Any country that aspires to jump into the vacuum will require the
possession of three critical tangible and intangible assets, namely,
political will; expertise/experience in managing complex multilateral
institutions and forging politically-sensitive international agreements;
and last but not least, global trust.Limits to Beijing’s Emerging Ambition

For
China, the maiden speech delivered by President Xi Jinping at the
recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, clearly conveys
Beijing’s emerging ambition to lead a coalition of like-minded nations
to defend globalisation. However, to lend credibility to its loud
declaration of political will, China must be able to demonstrate
leadership capability and garner international trust, two conditions
that Beijing seems to suffer from some serious deficits.

In
terms of trust, according to Pew Research Centre’s annual “Global
Attitudes Surveys” (of thousands of citizens around the world), the
majority of non-Chinese respondents typically views today’s China with
awe and dubiety rather than affection. Another survey by Edelman, a
global communications marketing firm, reveals that only a minority of
global consumers expresses trust in companies (and their products)
domiciled in China.

Even in development finance, a proud
Chinese economic diplomacy for which Beijing has poured in multiple
billions of dollars, recent research by AidData at the College of
William and Mary finds that among the 300 government officials from 126
emerging economies it has interviewed, the quality of policy advice from
Chinese institutions such as the China Development Bank, China
Export-Import Bank, and Chinese embassies is rated rather low by them.

In
terms of capability, realistically, China currently still lacks the
requisite expertise/experience to spearhead the “for-globalisation”
campaign. Facing a sharp learning curve, Beijing is toiling doubly hard
to acquire competence in multilateral management through several recent
initiatives such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB),
OneBelt,OneRoad (OBOR), and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
(RCEP).

China As Champion of Globalisation?

With
57 founding member-countries including Britain, France and Germany
(against the futile opposition of the United States and Japan), the
slightly over one-year-old AIIB has another 30 countries applying to
join. It is already disbursing multi-million-dollar loans to fund power,
housing, environment and transportation projects in half a dozen
emerging economies.

It is interesting to note that Beijing has
modelled AIIB’s governance structure and standards after the World Bank,
albeit with less layers of bureaucracy. With Washington’s withdrawal
from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the ASEAN-led but Beijing-dominated
RCEP, which comprises 16 countries collectively accounting for 40% of
world trade and 30% of global GDP, will have a higher chance of reaching
fruition. It will enter into its 17th round of negotiations in March
2017.

As for OBOR, unveiled in 2013, it is off to a slow start
and is still at the inception stage. As a high political-risk
initiative, it will strenuously test Beijing’s political mettle, not to
mention the attendant financial perils.

Should there be a stream
of positive, win-win outcomes flowing from the AIIB, OBOR, and RCEP,
these early successes would inspire higher confidence and trust around
the world in China’s commitment and prowess as a champion and defender
of globalisation. Conversely, a wave of failures would signal that
Beijing’s ambition to claim global leadership would be premature.

A litmus test is awaiting President Xi and his “pro-globalisation” team in Beijing.

Friedrich
Wu is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of
International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological
University,Singapore. He was a former economics director at Singapore’s
Ministry of Trade & Industry, and earlier the chief economist at DBS
Bank. An earlier version of this appeared in The Business Times.Click HERE to read this commentary online.

The founding fathers of the Munich Security Conference, said John
McCain, would be "be alarmed by the turning away from universal values
and toward old ties of blood, and race, and sectarianism."
McCain was followed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who called for a
"post-West world order." Russia has "immense potential" for that said
Lavrov, "we're open for that inasmuch as the U.S. is open."
Now McCain is not wrong. Nationalism is an idea whose time has come
again. Those "old ties of blood, and race, and sectarianism" do seem
everywhere ascendant. But that is a reality we must recognize and deal
with. Deploring it will not make it go away.
But what are these "universal values" McCain is talking about?
Democracy? The free elections in India gave power to Hindu
nationalists. In Palestine, Hamas. In Lebanon, Hezbollah. In Egypt, the
Muslim Brotherhood, then overthrown in a military coup welcomed by the
world's oldest and greatest democracy. Have we forgotten it was a
democratically elected government we helped to overthrow in Kiev?
Democracy is a bus you get off when it reaches your stop, says
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, autocrat of Ankara, a NATO ally.
Is freedom of religion a "universal value"?
Preach or proselytize for Christianity in much of the Islamic world
and you are a candidate for martyrdom. Practice freedom of speech in Xi
Jinping's China and you can wind up in a cell.
As for the Western belief in the equality of all voluntary sexual
relations, in some African and Muslim countries, homosexuals are
beheaded and adulterers stoned to death.

In Nuristan Province in U.S.-liberated Afghanistan this month, an
armed mob of 300 besieged a jail, shot three cops and dragged out an
18-year-old woman who had eloped with her lover to escape an arranged
marriage. Beaten by relatives, the girl was shot by an older brother
with a hunting rifle and by a younger brother with his AK-47.
Afghan family values.
Her lover was turned over to the husband. An "honor killing," and,
like suicide bombings, not uncommon in a world where many see such
actions as commendable in the sight of Allah.
McCain calls himself an "unapologetic believer in the West" who
refuses "to accept that our values are morally equivalent to those of
our adversaries."
Lavrov seemed to be saying this:
Reality requires us here in Munich to recognize that, in the new
struggle for the world, Russia and the U.S. are natural allies not
natural enemies. Though we may quarrel over Crimea and the Donbass, we
are in the same boat. Either we sail together, or sink together.
Does the foreign minister not have a point?
Unlike the Cold War, Moscow does not command a world empire. Though a
nuclear superpower still, she is a nation whose GDP is that of Spain
and whose population of fewer than 150 million is shrinking. And Russia
threatens no U.S. vital interest.

Where America is besieged by millions of illegal immigrants crossing
from Mexico, Russia faces to her south 1.3 billion Chinese looking
hungrily at resource-rich Siberia and Russia's Far East.
The China that is pushing America and its allies out of the East and
South China Seas is also building a new Silk Road through former Russian
and Soviet provinces in Central Asia. With an estimated 16 million
Muslims, Russia is threatened by the same terrorists, and is far closer
to the Middle East, the source of Sunni terror.
Is Putin's Russia an enemy, as McCain seems to believe?
Before we can answer that question, we need to know what the new
world struggle is about, who the antagonists are, and what the threats
are to us.
If we believe the struggle is for "global democracy" and "human
rights," then that may put Putin on the other side. But how then can we
be allies of President el-Sissi of Egypt and Erdogan of Turkey, and the
kings, emirs and sultans of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman?
But if the new world struggle is about defending ourselves and our
civilization, Russia would appear to be not only a natural ally, but a
more critical and powerful one than that crowd in Kiev.

In August 1914, Europe plunged into a 50-month bloodbath over an
assassinated archduke. In 1939, Britain and France declared war to keep
Poland from having to give up a Prussian port, Danzig, taken from
Germany under the duress of a starvation blockade in 1919 and in clear
violation of Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points and the Danzigers' right
of self-determination. In the two wars, 50 million to 100 million died.
Today, the United States is confronting Russia, a huge and natural
ally, over a peninsula that had belonged to her since the 18th century
and is 5,000 miles from the United States.
"We have immense potential that has yet to be tapped into," volunteered Lavrov. But to deal, we must have "mutual respect."
Hopefully, President Trump will sound out the Russians, and tune out the Beltway hawks.

Monday, February 27, 2017

Russia's Power Play In Middle East Brings Together Nations of Ezekiel 38

By PNW StaffFebruary 27, 2017
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Russia continues to expand its influence in the Middle East and is bringing together more and more countries into its fold.

Intervention in Syria has been the catalyst to re-establishing its power in the region not seen since the cold war days.

Iran
has been a long time partner with Russia but now we see new
developments in both Libya and Turkey to also bring about a stronger
alliance.

Iran saw a massive cash influx after
sanctions were removed last year, thanks to the Obama administration,
and as a result a substantial portion of this money will be put toward
military modernization including an estimated $1 Billion air defense
missile system supplied by Russia.

Part of
this deal also includes the Russian S-300 air defense missile system,
considered one of the most effective anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic
missile systems in existence. A clear response to Israel's threat the
Iran will never be allowed to become a nuclear power.

Russia, in a bid to regain its previous influence
enjoyed in Libya before the overthrow of the Ghaddafi government, has
also reached out to a Libyan general named Khalifa Haftar who controls
as many as 60,000 men in the Libyan National Army (LNA) in the east of
the country.

Russia recently received General
Haftar aboard its aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, pledging their
support for his bid to control Libya, a move that would give Russia
significant influence over North Africa.

A
former colonel under Ghaddafi stated that "Haftar is going to facilitate
Russian access to ports in Libya as well as open up airport runways to
them."

In the case of Turkey, President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan has thrown himself on the side of Russia as Turkey's
relations with both Israel and the United States have soured.

In
August of 2016, Erdogan praised Putin as his "dear friend" in a visit
to St. Petership that saw the two leaders pledging to strengthen ties.

The
2015 downing of a Russian jet by Turkish forces seems all but forgotten
as the two nations continue to strengthen their military ties.

Turkey's
half-century old EU membership bid is also currently tottering on the
brink of collapse, after the European Union's legislature asked the bloc
to freeze membership negotiations with Turkey over the government's
heavy-handed crackdown following a failed coup in July.

Turkish
president Erdogan indicated in a recent interview that he was fed up
with waiting for the European Union to accept Turkey as a member state,
indicating that he would be willing to consider joining the Russia-led
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as an alternative to the Western
bloc.

2,600 years ago, the prophet Ezekiel
foretold of a time when a coalition of predominately Muslim Nations
would gather together to invade the nation of Israel. This well-known
conflict is known as "The War of Gog and Magog."

According
to the book of Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39, this confederacy of nations
will attack Israel during a relatively peaceful period that appears to
be generated by a recent conflict resulting in a "state of peace" for
the Jewish nation.

According to the prophet,
"After many days you shall be called. In the latter years, you shall
come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants
have been gathered out of many peoples, against the mountains of Israel
which had been always a waste. But its people were brought out of the
nations, and they, all of them, are dwelling safely ... and you shall
say, 'I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go
against those who are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling
without walls and having neither bars nor gates'" (Ezekiel 38:8, 11).

The nations cited by Ezekiel are each referenced in the Old Testament, yet they all represent nations which exist today.

Long
before Russia became a major world power, most Biblical scholars
identified Magog as the nation of Russia and Gog as the ruler of
Russia.

These other nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38 are:

" Magog (also said by other experts to include Meshech, and Tubal) = Russia

" Persia = Iran

" Cush = Ethiopia/Sudan

" Put = Libya

" Gomer = Turkey (Some have identified as parts of eastern Europe)

" Beth-Togarmah = Turkey (also said by other experts to include Armenia, and the Turkish-speaking people of Asia Minor).

The
Bible indicates that in the "latter days" the Lord will put a "hook in
the jaw" of these nations listed and according to the prophet, "you
shall ascend and come like a storm; you shall be like a cloud to cover
the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you." (Ezekiel
38:9)

Some speculate that "hook in the jaw"
could be Israel's newly discovered oil and natural gas riches which
directly affect the Russian economy.

Other
analysts believe Russia's alliance with Iran could be a "hook' if Israel
pre-emptively attacks Iran's nuclear program, resulting in retaliation
by Iran and the ensuing continued draws in Russia.

For now we see the alliance of nations forming exactly as Ezekiel described. Now we await the "hook".

Inspiring Police Program To Help Addicts Changes The Face Of The “War On Drugs”

A Massachusetts police department success
in treating addicts instead of simply incarcerating them has led similar
programs to be adopted in 28 different states.

Credit – gtpolice.com

Drug addiction in America is an ever-growing epidemic and a “war”
that we are losing. Throwing addicts in jail has proven ineffective
given the nature of drug addiction and so hundreds of police departments
around the US have started using drug treatment as an alternative to
imprisonment. For instance, the Gloucester County Police Department in
Massachusetts has created a revolutionary new policing strategy
called the Angel program, aimed at getting addicts the help they need,
instead of putting them in handcuffs. This program has had so much
success that it has turned heads and convinced other law enforcement
departments to follow their lead.
The nature of drug addiction is difficult to understand for many
people. Many assume that people who consume drugs lack moral discipline
or will power, and that they can stop using drugs whenever they decide
to. With this mentality, people look at drug users as criminals or
simply a bad element of society that should be locked up and forgotten.
Yet, this is not the case for much of the drug consuming population. As a
matter of fact, most people use drugs for the first time when they are
just teenagers.
There were over 2.8 million new users of illicit drugs in 2013, which comes to 7,800 new users per day. Over half (54.1 percent) were under 18 years of age. Many prestigious colleges are even set in high drug trafficking zones,
causing many college students to be exposed to “hard” drugs at a young
age. Many of these drugs are extremely powerful, fogging the mind of the
user. Some of these users claim to have lost control, committing crimes
to buy the drug, selling their belongings, or even resorting to prostitution. These drug users are ultimately caught and released numerous times for the same crimes.
To combat the addiction problem, Gloucester police chief, Leonard
Campanello pledged in 2015 that drug users could walk into the police
station, hand over heroin, and walk out into treatment within hours —
without arrest or charges. The concept of help rather than handcuffs became a national sensation.
This initiative to help drug users instead of arresting them has led to
what is now called the Angel program. Per the program, if you have
drugs or drug paraphernalia on you, the police department will dispose
of it for you. They will not arrest you. You will not be charged with a
crime or even be taken to jail. Instead, you will be paired with a
volunteer “ANGEL” who will help guide you through the treatment process.
In Gloucester, records show that 530 people have sought help at the
police station since June 2015.

10 Signs The Global Elite Are Losing Control

Karma is coming for the elite in a big way. As the Powers That Be
head toward a devastating defeat in their war plans for Syria, signs are
emerging that their rule over humanity is rapidly diminishing.
Over the last decade the global elite have been on a mad dash to
consolidate power over the world. It’s always been their plan like some
evil villain in a comic book, but after 9/11 the plan went into
overdrive and then turbo charged during the financial crisis of 2008.

Yet it’s doomed to fail because humans are meant to be guided by
their own free will, not controlled like livestock. The more the elite
try to control humanity, the more entropy occurs. Entropy, for those who
don’t know, is the lack of order or predictability; a gradual decline
into disorder.
Although the elite still enjoy a huge wealth advantage over the
masses, they are now resigned to behaving like tyrants to maintain
control. This, in turn, exposes their dark side which has been cleverly
concealed for ages. Not anymore.
People are waking up in droves, at least as fast as the elite can
build their full-spectrum prison matrix. Let them try. To paraphrase
Victor Hugo, “No army can stop an idea whose time has come.”
Here are ten signs that the elite are losing control over the people:

1. Official lies no longer effective:

The lies they tell simply don’t work anymore. There was a time when
official lies, especially about war and peace, were believed. Because,
after all, how evil would it be to lie about such things? Generally
people want to believe they are being told the truth when life and death
is at stake. The boy who cried wolf has cried one too many times. Even
if they told the truth at this point, very few would believe them.

2. No confidence in politics:

US politicians have a paltry approval rating. The trust in government
is at all-time lows here and around the world. Mainstream polls show
only 10% of the public has confidence in Congress. In other words, 90%
don’t believe in them to be competent to govern.

Watch this Town Hall exchange below where a man threatens US Senator
John McCain with arrest for treason to his face. This would have never
happened just a year or two ago:

3. No confidence in media:

The most recent polls show that 77% of the population no longer
trusts corporate TV news. Is it any wonder why the establishment media
failed to sell the lies about the alleged Syria chemical event? With all
their monopoly might over the airwaves, they can no longer claim that
black is white simply because officialdom says so.

4. Bankers rejected:

Hungary recently became the first country to follow Iceland’s lead by shedding international bankers (IMF) and is considering pursuing prosecution of past prime ministers who enslaved the people with debt.
Look for this trend to continue even if nations decide to default to break free.

5. Vatican abruptly cleaning up its act:

Under the previous Pope, Pope Benedict, scandals erupted from the
Vatican ranging from covering up pedophile priests to money laundering
and fraud. Benedict, in an unprecedented move, abruptly retired to make
way for a seemingly much more likable Pope Francis. Pope Francis by all measures is working furiously to reclaim the church’s peaceful and humble reputation.
Whether this is genuine or a PR move, it’s telling that the church was
forced into such a drastic turnaround to save itself from losing all
credibility.

6. Mutiny among soldiers:

Finally. Soldiers, who are outlawed from making political statements,
are steadily speaking out against US military adventurism. As Einstein
famously said “The pioneers of a warless world are the young men (and
women) who refuse military service.”

7. Militarized police state:

One of the darkest signs that the elite are losing their grip on
power is the construction of the militarized police state specifically
trained to combat domestic civil unrest. Local cops with tanks and other
combat gear are working with Feds at Fusion centers, active Army units
are on American soil for the first time in history, the NSA spy grid is
being used by the IRS and DEA, and the elimination of due process for
Americans under the NDAA are just some of the tyrannical moves made to
secure the elite criminals from public backlash. They’re clearly scared,
and they should be given what they’ve done to the American people and
the Constitution.

8. Serious secession movements everywhere:

A state seceding from a larger political entity used to be an
ultra-fringe concept, until now. In America, secession movements are
winning over the public in parts of Colorado and California. In Europe,
serious secession movements are happening in Spain and Scotland, as well as several EU nations flirting with the idea of dropping out the the euro. Decentralization = Entropy!

9. GMO food being rejected everywhere:

Control the food and you control the people. True in theory, but much
more difficult in practice. GMO leaders like Monsanto are being
exposed. All of their economic and political strength cannot defeat the
spread of knowledge about the dangers of pesticide-soaked Frankenfoods.
GMO fields are being burned in protest in America and around the world, informed nations continue to reject their products, and labeling laws are gaining traction.

10. Cannabis liberation:

Many reading this will think marijuana legalization is a superficial
development. However, it is a major signpost that the elite’s grip is
fading. Enormous resources have been spent to keep cannabis illegal.
Cannabis has been a powerful medicine for physical, mental, and
spiritual health throughout the ages. This single plant represents a
huge threat to the power structures and their industries, hence its
seemingly senseless illegality. The approaching global reversal of the tyrannical policy of prohibition is the first of many concessions to come.Credit: Activist Post

Sunday, February 26, 2017

The EU Calls on Chinese President Xi Jinping to Put His Words into Action

The
European Union urged China on Wednesday to make "concrete progress" in
opening its markets to global investment, after Chinese President Xi
Jinping decried protectionism in a speech at the recent World Economic
Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"A
speech is a speech and actions are actions," said Hans Dietmar
Schweisgut, EU Ambassador to China, adding that he would be "surprised"
if Xi was unable to translate words into action.

At
Davos last week, Xi called for "inclusive globalization" and for global
unity, saying "self-isolation will benefit no-one," two days before the
inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

During
that week, China's cabinet issued measures to further open the economy
to foreign investment, including easing limits on investment in banks
and other financial institutions. No further details were provided, nor a
timetable for their implementation.

So
far, the EU has not seen "sufficient signs that China will be willing
to grant reciprocity of market access to European companies," Schweisgut
told reporters in Beijing.

In
June 2016, the European Chamber of Commerce in China warned that
foreign companies face an increasingly hostile environment in China,
with fewer than half its members saying they planned to expand
operations in the world's second-largest economy.

Billionaire
investor Wilbur Ross, Trump's choice for commerce secretary, has called
China the "most protectionist" country in the world, and said China's
officials "talk much more about free trade than they actually practice."

Trump
has previously criticized China's trade practices and threatened to
impose punitive tariffs on Chinese imports, and while he did not mention
China at his inauguration, he pledged to put "America first" in a
nationalist speech.

Schweisgut
played down chances of a trade war between China and the United States,
saying it would be "self-defeating" and that to speculate about the
risk is to "look too far down the road."

China
has said it is confident it can resolve trade disputes with the new
U.S. government, though some state media and government advisors have
warned that U.S. aircraft manufacturers, automobile companies and
agricultural products could be caught in the cross-fire of increased
trade tensions.

When
asked whether Europe saw any opportunities in China's warnings of
punitive measures against the U.S., Schweisgut said this was
"interesting speculation" but that he did not know enough about Trump's
trade policy plans to comment.

John McCain Secretly Visited Syria Last Week

Senator
John McCain secretly visited Syria last weekend to meet with American
military officials and discuss the campaign against ISIS.
On
Wednesday a spokeswoman for the Republican Senator confirmed that
McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, made a visit to
the Syrian town of Kobani.She
said: “Senator McCain traveled to northern Syria last week to visit
U.S. forces deployed there and to discuss the counter-ISIS campaign and
ongoing operations to retake Raqqa”
His trip comes as the Trump administration debates plans for an increased military campaign against ISIS.Press TV reports:
The
Republican senator has been one the most staunch critics of US policies
towards the Syrian crisis, adopted under former President Barack Obama.
The
visit to Kobani, located on the northern border with Turkey, was made
as US military officials were evaluating ways to allegedly tackle the
Daesh Takfiri group.

“Senator
McCain’s visit was a valuable opportunity to assess dynamic conditions
on the ground in Syria and Iraq. President Trump has rightly ordered a
review of the US strategy and plans to defeat ISIL,” McCain’s
spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, the White House was awaiting a strategy by the Pentagon to defeat Daesh (ISIL).
“It
will address ISIS globally, and it is not just a [Department of
Defense] plan,” said Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis. “We’re
charged with leading the development of the plan, but it absolutely
calls upon the capabilities of other departments.”
The US and its
allies have been conducting air raids against what are said to be Daesh
terrorists’ positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any
authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. Analysts
have assessed the strikes as unsuccessful as they have led to civilian
deaths and failed to counter terrorism.

(Natural News)
Mysterious plumes of radioactive iodine-131,
the same nuclear isotope seen during the Fukushima disaster, have
suddenly started appearing all over Europe. And according to reports,
nobody seems to know where they’re coming from — that, or authorities
are choosing to deliberately keep the undisclosed source(s) out of
public view.
Trace amounts of the highly damaging form of radiation,
which is known to destroy the thyroid gland, have been found in at
least seven European countries, including in Norway, Finland, the Czech
Republic, Germany, France, and Spain. Such radiation typically comes
from either nuclear energy plants or atomic bombs — and the latter
presumably haven’t been set off anywhere recently.
According to The Sun, the source of the toxic particles appears to be
somewhere in Eastern Europe, despite the majority of them having been
identified in countries to the West and North. The only other source
from which such particles could be emerging are certain medical devices,
though for their spread to be so wide across so many different regions
is highly unlikely.
Finland’s Radiation Safety Authority (STUK) says it also identified
trace amounts of the radioactive isotopes cobalt-60, niobium-95, and
cesium-134, all of which are also directly associated with nuclear
processes. Investigations into the source of these particles are
ongoing, and experts are insistent that the levels are so low that they
do not pose a significant health risk to the public.
“The preliminary report states it (iodine-131) was first found during
the week 2 of January 2017 in northern Norway,” reads a press release
issued by the France-based Institute de Radioprotection et de Süreté
Nucléaire (IRSN).

Norwegian nuclear officials claim informing public right away about radiation wasn’t necessary because levels were ‘low’

What’s strange about this radioactive presence throughout Europe is
that its levels are seemingly so low as to be almost impossibly
dispersed. One would think that having the same type of radiation
detected in so many places at once would indicate much higher amounts of
it, but experts insist that the levels are low enough as to be
harmless.
The world heard plenty of this same narrative during and after the
Fukushima disaster — and it is still the official story today, despite ongoing problems at the stricken plant that continue to harm Japan, the world’s oceans, and possibly even the West Coast of the U.S.— a majority of the world, essentially.
According to officials in Finland, the levels of radiation detected
there were less than one-millionth of a Becquerel per cubic meter of air
— not very much in terms of serious safety concerns. But as many Natural News readers are well aware, any amount of radiation is a health threat, and its source a pertinent area of concern.
“We do measure small amounts of radioactivity in air from time to
time because we have very sensitive measuring equipment,” the head of
Norway’s Radiation Protection Authority, Astrid Liland, told reporters
when asked why it took so long to inform the public about the potential
looming threat.
“The measurements at Svanhovd in January were very, very low. So were
the measurements made in neighboring countries, like Finland. The
levels raise no concern for humans or the environment. Therefore, we
believe this had no news value.”
Ironically, Norway’s radiation levels were higher than in Finland,
and yet Finnish nuclear officials were quick to issue a public statement
out of precaution. Like Norway and France, however, Finland insists
that radiation levels are far lower than what can have “any effect” on
human health.
There are nuclear plants located in Finland, Sweden, and Russia where
the nuclear particles in question could have emerged. Investigators are
working to trace where they came from as quickly as possible.Sources:TheSun.co.ukYLE.fi

Internet gatekeepers trying to torch all truth across the ‘Net, targeting Natural News, InfoWars and more

(Natural News)
We warned you it would happen, and now it has: The anti-Trump,
pro-globalist Left is moving quickly to punish independent media outlets
who support the 45th president and treat him fairly with honest coverage of him and his administration.
Earlier this week Alex Jones’ Infowarslost a $3 million-a-year ad content deal
when the company, AdRoll, decided to suddenly drop them, despite the
high volume of traffic his web properties receive, over charges that the
site publishes ‘fake news.’ It doesn’t; in fact, if anyone
publishes fake news, it’s the many other web properties the company is
continuing to do business with. If this angers you as a liberty-minded
person who believes in the constitutional principle of free speech, let AdRoll know you’re angry.
Then there was the takedown this week of conservative provocateur and
enthusiastic Trump supporter Milo Yiannopoulos by an alleged
“conservative” group called the Reagan Battalion, whom
virtually no one had heard of before. The group published a
selectively-edited video of Yiannopoulos appearing to condone homosexual
sex between adults and 13-year-old boys; the takedown cost him a
$250,000 book deal, his job at Breitbart, and an invitation to the Conservative Political Action Committee meeting, which began Wednesday evening. Come to find out, Reagan Battalion actually has ties to the far-Left group Indivisible, as the Gateway Pundit reported.
This group is one of those behind the staged protests at GOP lawmakers’
town hall meetings. Board members to the group have indirect links to Alt-Left George Soros groups. (RELATED: Pay attention to these three financial experts if you want to survive the coming financial superstorm)
Shopify, an e-commerce platform, was threatened by organized Left-wing groups to drop Breitbart as a content provider, but the CEO graciously defended his decision not to do so, despite coming under intense pressure from the real purveyors of censorship. He may not like Breitbart’s political slant, but as a true believer in free speech, he refused to cave to the demands of would-be authoritarians.
And now, Natural News is under assault – by Google, a multi-billion dollar company that built everything that it has become on the premise that the World Wide Web ought to be a place where censorship went to die and freedom of speech and expression flourished for all.
We were notified early Wednesday that some 140,000 previously indexed
pages – our catalog of stories – has been removed from the search
engine giant, almost as if we’d never existed. The reason? We’re not
sure yet, but as our founder/editor, Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, has
observed, it’s very likely an arbitrary decision
directly tied to our commitment to the truth, to fair, unbiased
coverage of President Donald Trump, and our penchant for taking on the
medical, social and political establishments with hard-core vigilance
and take-no-prisoners style.
Facts are inconvenient things, we are told, and no one epitomizes
that more than those on the insane Left. When they encounter people who
simply disagree with them, they always defer to the solutions of banishing them, taking away their ability to express themselves, or shouting them into silence. Never have they resorted to open and honest debate, allowing two separate voices to be heard on the issues so as to allow all of us the opportunity to make informed decisions based on all the evidence and all the facts.
In the past, voices of conservative dissent were rarely heard because
the Left owned the press; today, however, that ownership has been
subjugated by the flourishing of the independent, online media. In
cyberspace, the competition of ideals is fully achievable, but that’s a
problem for the Left because when shown the light of day, they lose the
debates.
Barack Obama and Democrats could have never told Americans
that Obamacare would result in the loss of personal insurance plans,
that deductibles would skyrocket, that out-of-pocket expenses would rise
dramatically, and that you couldn’t keep your doctor. So they lied about the law
in order to get it passed. George W. Bush and Republicans could not
reveal that provisions of the USA Patriot Act would grant presidents
carte blanche authority to order American spy agencies to vacuum up all
of our personal data, or they would have never been able to pass it. And
so on. (RELATED: All you need to know about the discredited mainstream media, in one Mika Brzezinski quote)
The Internet was supposed to be the final answer to free and open
debate, real representative democracy and the free-flowing exchange of
ideas – but we allowed it to be hijacked by the same anti-choice,
anti-free speech forces the ‘Net was supposed to thwart. That’s the
Google faction, by the way.
Well, at least there are ways around this abject censorship. Here’s
what we need our wonderful Natural News readers and supporters to do:
— Stop using ‘mainstream’ search engines like Google and Yahoo, as
well as social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. They are limiting
your information.
— Use GoodGopher.com for searching, and become a social media warrior at Share.NaturalNews.com, where there is NO censorship, just liberty.
— Sign up for the Natural News daily newsletter (below) and get our content sent straight to you.
— Bookmark our site, NaturalNews.com, and check in regularly throughout the day, as we update the site regularly with fresh, informative, truthful content. Same with Censored.news.
Thanks for your continued support. We really do appreciate it.J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.Sources:NaturalNews.comTheGatewayPundit.comInfoWars.comSoros.news

Reporter fired for questioning vaccines and climate change

(Natural News)
Fascism is alive and well in the U.S., where a news reporter and
meteorologist was recently fired from her job — not for poor performance
or because she committed some type of crime, but simply because she
supports the freedom of parents not to have to vaccinate their children,
and because she questions the legitimacy of some of the science that
backs the theory of man-made global warming.
Misha Michaels from WGBH in Boston was told by her bosses at the
station that she “is not a good fit” after it was revealed that she had
supported a legislative bill allowing parents to forego vaccinating
their children. Michaels also posted information on her website
contradicting the official narrative on man-made global warming, writing
that she believes “strongly that politics has warped the scientific
process and natural variation has a much stronger hand than humans do.”
These are quite reasonable positions for a person to take — and more
importantly, they’re personal ones that every American is afforded under
the First Amendment. But Michaels’ colleagues weren’t too happy once
they found out that she held these views, and quickly ratted Michaels
out to her bosses. Not long after, Michaels was told she was no longer employed as a science reporter for the “Greater Boston” show.
Even after deleting the “inflammatory” comments from her website,
Michaels remained blacklisted from the station, bearing the scarlet
letter of a politically-incorrect skeptic in a world that requires 100
percent compliance with the official government narrative. Even though
WGBH hired Michaels knowing full well what she believed, that decision
was ultimately overruled by the scientific oligarchs who refuse to have
their dogmas questioned.
“I am saddened by the sudden end of my position as science reporter
at WGBH,” reads a statement issued by Michaels after her firing. “I
worked tirelessly for more than two decades as a broadcast
meteorologist, storm chaser, and science reporter. Scientific consensus
does not equal complacency. It is a challenge to scientists to verify
the science or push it forward.”

French reporter also fired for questioning global warming in 2015

A similar browbeating took place in France back in 2015 when top
weatherman Philippe Verdier was fired from his position after
questioning the politicization of science by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC), which had been exposed for publishing false
data and fake science. Verdier was later hired by Russia’s RT newspaper
to cover the United Nation’s climate summit in Paris that same year.
“In 2007, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Al Gore and the IPCC
climate change experts,” Verdier said on RT. “They told us ‘if we don’t
deal with climate change, there will be more risks to have wars.’ But
for 20 years, we are experiencing the warmest years and we have a parallel decline in wars and declining numbers of victims from conflicts.”
Commenting on these types of situations, Dr. Pat Michaels, a
climatologist at the Cato Institute, used the word “shameful” to
describe them. Rather than allowing freedom of thought and expression,
allowing the public to decide on their own what’s true and what isn’t as
it relates to climate science, the pseudo-science mafia would rather control the narrative at all costs, even when it means firing good people for doing absolutely nothing wrong.
“… the folks at WGBH could actually really do their listeners a
service,” Michaels is quoted as saying by One News Now. “And they would
discover it’s not very much like it’s supposed to be. It’s supposed to
be warming up much faster than it is.” (RELATED: More on the
developments of climate change science is available at ClimateScienceNews.com)Sources:DailyCaller.comOneNewsNow.com

About Me

ROLAND SAN JUAN was a researcher, management consultant, inventor, a part time radio broadcaster and a publishing director. He died last November 25, 2008 after suffering a stroke. His staff will continue his unfinished work to inform the world of the untold truths. Please read Erick San Juan's articles at: ericksanjuan.blogspot.com This blog is dedicated to the late Max Soliven, a FILIPINO PATRIOT.
DISCLAIMER - We do not own or claim any rights to the articles presented in this blog. They are for information and reference only for whatever it's worth. They are copyrighted to their rightful owners.
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